Forget the coasts, young folks. The Midwest is where it's at if you're a millennial, new research finds.

North Dakota is the best state for millennials, with South Dakota the runner-up, according to research by MoneyRates.com, a site that provides banking information for consumers.

The site examined eight criteria, including unemployment rates, rental rates, night life and access to broadband internet.

North Dakota was tops in broadband access, and in the top 10 for rental affordability and concentration of places to spend a fun night out, the site found.

The state has a high proportion of young adults, with 10.49 percent of the state's population being 20 to 24 years old, the third-highest rate in the country, MoneyRates said.

Rounding out the top five states were Nebraska, Iowa and Montana.

It's a notion that goes against the stereotype of where a young person might want to live. The West Coast fared badly, with Washington state as the worst and California as the fourth-worst state for millennials, the site said. Virginia and Arizona tied for second worst and Vermont came in fifth.

Millennials make up an age group born ranging from the early 1980s to around 2000.

The site also found North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate for people ages 20-24 at 4.6 percent, compared to 10.7 for an average state in the nation.